One Woman’s Vision: Women Economic Forum and ALL Ladies League

Dr. Nancy’s 2017 Interview with Dr. Harbeen Arora

I’m pleased to announce that I have been appointed to the 2018 Advisory Board of the Women Economic Forum (WEF). I very much enjoyed the sisterhood I experienced while attending their conferences in New Delhi and Santa Barbara, and look forward to making more networking connections going forward.

WEF is the conference arm of the All Ladies League, the largest global women chamber in the world with over 70,000 members in 150 countries. Both ALL and WEF arose from the vision and determination of founder and Global Chairperson Dr. Harbeen Arora.

Dr. Harbeen Arora

Dr. Harbeen Arora exemplifies a laser-focused commitment to Inclusion, Inspiration and Innovation. Her website notes that their “hundreds of chapters and groups worldwide function as Lighthouses beckoning those who seek support and need networks. Here, women from diverse fields are coming together and expanding circles of sisterhood and empowering the chain of change; helping each other in real time and in safe spaces to expand networks and collaborate in personal and professional ways.”

Because she expresses herself so eloquently, I’m printing the entirety of my email interview with Dr. Arora from July, 2017. Enjoy! ~Dr. Nancy

Note: Upcoming Women Economic Forum events in 2017 are in Delhi in September, in October in Cyprus, Iceland, Portugal and Morocco, followed by others. See the full schedule. After staging 14 events in 2017, WEF has 22 events scheduled for 2018 including one in Washington.

DNO: Tell me where you were and what you were doing when you first imagined the idea of All Ladies League (ALL). When was that?

DHA: Seeds of the ALL Ladies League were sown in 2005 as a result of my continuing engagement with girls’ education. I had just finished by Ph.D from the University of Paris III, Sorbonne nouvelle and got involved with our family foundation’s philanthropic endeavour that instituted the Dreamz Scholarships. Named with a vision to help women dream and fulfill their dreams, these scholarships provided full tuition fee waiver plus free boarding and lodging for girl students from disadvantaged sections of society from across the world to study for various UG and PG programs at our colleges. Looking back, this marked the beginnings of what came to be known as the ALL Ladies League (ALL).

The scholarships had an incredible impact with vivid transformation, as these girls were now brimming with confidence, esteem, ideas, and talents unleashed. Through the unique educational opportunity afforded by the scholarship, their vibrant potential was revealed to them and to their families; more so when these women further started working, earning and sharing their empowerment with parents and siblings.

However, this was only the beginning. To advance and sustain the momentum of economic independence and growing leadership, they needed abiding support systems, mentoring, support and connections. Especially when they would get married and have a family; as then the traditional expectations and notions of a woman’s greater role in family and household work would predominate. So, despite the education and economic pathways open, women – be it from privileged or disadvantaged backgrounds – would tend to quit their jobs, sideline personal pursuits, and step back to take care of the family, as that’s what was expected and valued. Men of course never had to make this kind of a choice between family and work and could enjoy the best of both worlds.

We believe that women do not have to choose between loving themselves and loving others. In fact, loving ourselves and loving what we do is vital to sharing our love with others. Society as well as individual women had to understand and accept that first.

Therefore, the need emerged for safe support structures and inspired spaces of sisterhood where women could express, engage and derive support at social, emotional and spiritual levels to have the sheer energy to rise above and go beyond; with greater self-belief and conscious handling of the challenges on the path.

Thus, the ALL Ladies League (ALL) began to informally articulate itself; not just for women from underserved communities but for ALL women; as the issues remained the same. The vision was to create a seamless space for women, a ‘country of women’, an alter-family, a sisterhood, beyond caste, colour, creed, ethnicity and even gender to empower ALL through the agency of women’s inclusive and inspired leadership.

Here, among ‘SoulSisters’ as we say, the journeys would begin where you could explore and discover your voice, own your narrative, feel the surge of your soul rising within, connect to like-hearted women, pool in your strengths and skills, and feel the power within and of the collective rising to make it ALL happen.

DNO: What were your first steps toward developing the idea of the All Ladies League?

DHA: We started creating circles of sisterhood or Chapters, each led by a chair. We began inviting members by reference and expanding the circles. We used online media to start the connections and offline events to cement the bonds. Membership soon came to be free in our bid to include ALL the inspiring women, irrespective of their ability to pay. We simply wanted women to be invited for the positive attitude, passion to make a difference, and a readiness to help one another.

The acronym ALL gave us our eponymous ethos of connecting ALL women and creating on-ramps for ALL to access opportunities, networks, learnings, and manifest one’s latent potential and leadership, individually and collectively. Together, aligned, collaborating, we could really do it ALL.

For us this ethos or spirit of ALL continues to be most sacrosanct. We always say “spirit before the size.” We knew from the start that we didn’t want another “club”. While in pursuit of excellence, we didn’t want to reduce ourselves to an elite few. We wanted to constantly reach out, include, and be always chasing inspiration and new learning. It’s the best antidote to entropy and stagnation that risk stymying one’s growth. Therefore, we embedded Inclusion in our very design. Each woman who comes in as a member is asked to refer other inspiring women; in a chain of change.

To make the most of the plurality and diversity that comes along with Inclusion, we needed a ‘fire’ so to say of harmony, responsiveness, curiosity, and encouragement, that would make the most of these vital ingredients. Thus, the second tenet of Inspiration is what we kept as the only rule. That no matter where we come from, whatever we do, we must ALL bring in the flame of positive energy. It’s the only capital required to unleash the creative capital innate in our plural matrix. Innovation, then, our third peg, is what will naturally flow and follow from the above and foster incremental value every day in our lives, personally and professionally.

DNO: What other people helped inspire and energize you to establish it at first?

DHA: My parents have been most supportive, accompanying me with full faith at every step. We continue to share, grow and learn together as a family.

My partner then is the most amazing man I know. He is my role model in terms of his inner strength, forward thinking, straightforwardness, self-discipline and spirit of service. It was he who had more faith in me than me in myself. His unflinching support, unconditional love and utmost generosity helped me at every step to make that journey from me to myself.

In my awakening, my Guru or spiritual Master bore the greatest influence. With his teachings, I found the vibration that spoke to my deepest self and provided the greatest anchoring in the ups and downs of life.

Over the last two decades, I have been through a great period of growth, experience, reflections, observations, and awakening with each unfolding. It had led me to feel much more aligned to who I am and live in sync with my soul. It has had the effect of diminishing my doubts, fears, hesitations, and giving me an inner strength and force to be true to my core; secure in the knowledge that my unique path will help me bring to fruition the ‘seed’ of my destiny.

I have also learned in the process that the best way to receive goodness is to give it. When you offer a good word, a kind thought, a thoughtful reference, a helping hand, it all has a way of coming back to you. The good news is that we all have this source of positive energy or human goodness inside of us. We simply have to know that the more we give, the lesser not we have. The wealth of wellness within each of us is abundant, infinite, and grows with sharing.

DNO: What did you envision it would become, and has that dream been fulfilled?

DHA: It has exceeded ALL expectations!

I often feel a divine intervention, a force on my shoulder, the presence of a powerful field, that makes the outcome of our endeavours much greater than the sum of its parts. You can feel that X factor vibe in our events and WEF conferences.

From its beginning in 2005, ALL grew slowly and then picked up speed in 2011. We have now 70000+ members today and we hope to reach a million by next year. 99% are women; 1% would be supporting men. Areas with high percentage of members/chapters are USA, Canada, Europe, Africa, India and other parts of Asia. The backgrounds include entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, businesswomen, professionals, educators, corporate leaders and women interested in a variety of fields like arts, health, sports, homemakers, all age groups. We make an effort to include the youth and senior people.

To empower the spirit of sisterhood and valuing our relationships with women, we started a festival of Shakti Bandhan to celebrate and strengthen the bonds among women. Shakti means the power of the Divine Feminine to love and nurture, and Bandhan means Bond. Every year on Oct 5, we celebrate it as Shakti Bandhan: World Sisterhood Day. Of course, it’s also celebrated in ALL seasons for ALL reasons; whenever and wherever women come together. I believe that when we celebrate a relationship, we care for it more and make greater efforts to ensure that it thrives and shines. It is important to create this space for fostering a sisterhood that becomes our safe and inspired space for excelling through learning, exchange and connecting. So, to celebrate Shakti Bandhan, we tie ceremonial threads (of any kind) to soul sisters and other women in our lives to honor them. It’s about celebrating our Bonds with a Band of love. It’s become a universal festival now with our members across the world celebrating it and feeling uplifted and connected to the greater feminine within them and around them.

However, it will take some time to strengthen the ALL ethos or narrative of seeing the world as one family, believing in the leadership and purpose innate in ALL, making women bond in sisterhood, and each of us speaking with the voice of our soul. This narrative will only take root when the women, who are embodiments of this new inclusive spirit and vision, come into their own and speak from their own consciousness instead of succumbing to parochial and patriarchal narratives that often surround us and we assimilate them unknowingly.

This churning process has already started of course, many years ago, much before ALL, as also in different parts of the world. I have no doubt that our shared vision will be fulfilled. Who can resist the force of Mother Nature! When She decides to restore balance, she will have it.

DNO: What challenges did you encounter and how did you overcome them?

DHA: Challenges are there at All times. No matter what their form – subtle or large, personal or professional, micro or macro; you have to deal with them with the same weaponry of your inner spirit.

And for me, keeping my inner equilibrium, peace of mind, purity of heart, clarity of purpose, faith in the universal goodness, constant forgiveness, and quiet conviction and determination, all that helps me fight my own inner challenges restore balance for the healthy perspectives to emerge.

In fact, this process is also a great fuel for our creative process of self-evolution, as in striving and struggling through our pain points, we have the possibility of cutting-through and going across that which holds us back.

I have a life-affirming belief that Nature or The Force or God, whatever we may call that invisible power field around and within, is always FOR us – aiding, guiding nudging, prodding, and pushing us deeper into fulfilling ourselves. In times of challenges, we can feed that faith even more as we are more vulnerable and more receptive in those moments, and so can receive its affirming energy with more hunger and gratitude. Of course, the greatest challenge is to stay in the faith in moments when it falters the most.

DNO: Your ALL code of conduct is wonderful. How did you develop that code?

DHA: The simple thumb rule that runs across our Code of Conduct is a persuasion to Be Positive and Bring Positive. And everything else is derived from that need to foster positive energy and inspiration in our midst. By extension, we insist on no negativity and no arguments on divisive topics, like religion or politics as we understand them today. Sadly, these two fields that could have been pivotal in bringing people together, have created the greatest schisms and also pushed out the worst in the human spirit instead of the best. We wanted to focus on encouraging the best with each and ALL from a creative standpoint. Thus, ALL is non-political, non-religious and non-dogmatic.

This rule of Positivity was also derived at a time when we were making the membership free and needed some sort of eligibility criterion that would automatically sieve the entrants and also strengthen what we were attempting to achieve. I knew we didn’t want a ‘monitoring’ and ‘controlling’ approach. I have personally always shied away from that path as I feel it reduces your own positive and creative spirit, and does not do much either for people who are being monitored.

We wanted this movement to spread from an inspired consciousness and a self-regulated space where each one was conscious of one’s respective role in the whole. So, we began the reference model, where each member had the full liberty to refer another woman as a member who she found to be positive or simply liked. No judgement was being placed; our simple brief was that if you would like to be with her, then we would like her to be with us. So, it became like a chain where each element of the chain was tied together by some relation and was thus sieved through to an extent by virtue of that connection.

The free membership brought in speedy inclusion; the reference brought in an element of security and like-hearted spirit; and the code kept us aligned and inspired.

There was another aspect that we were mindful of. As ALL signified a place for ALL and by ALL, we wanted least hierarchy and greatest movement and manifestation of ideas and initiatives. Therefore, another code was to not have elaborate or top-heavy bureaucratic procedures. Even in the structure of chapters and chairs across the world, we follow a distributed leadership model with multiple chapters or circles of sisterhood driven by our belief that everyone who wants to lead can lead. We do not promote hierarchy. It’s more like a web of inspiring initiatives uplifting one another. The only permission or approval we urge you to seek is from your own better self.

Each chapter or self-help circle is run by a chair who is the champion for that sector or city with a group of people. However, that does not exclude another woman to lead in the same city or sector with another set of people. As an internet of women, each member, chair or not, has full independence to initiate activities and bring in new members and ideas; as long as it’s done with a positive spirit and intent to help and expand opportunities for ALL. There’s decentralisation and an environment where people work with more trust, caring, dedication, low-ego, and with joy and enthusiasm.

We do not have a single or central advocacy strategy other than bring about positivity, spirit of sisterhood and a commitment to women’s greater leadership in ALL walks of life. We encourage each to follow one’s passion and leverage one’s strengths. We are ALL inspirational leaders. We just have to bring the best within us out and that is what ALL hopes to do by proving the platforms for women to express themselves. Wherever the goodness comes from, it adds to the same pool of strength and inspiration. It’s ALL connected.

More than a chamber in the traditional sense, ALL is a movement, a culture, an ethos and a force of change for infusing more feminine soulfulness and helpfulness in All aspects of our life to awaken the Shakti or power in All.

We have today over 500 chapters or circles of sisterhood across 150 countries and in over 100 sectors. They mostly use messaging groups/social media to stay connected and coordinate their online and offline activities. The tenure of a chair is a year and then another one takes over, like a relay. For funding chapter events and activities, members use their ingenuity to pool in skills, connections, networks, innovative ideas and resources, like a ‘picnic-model.’

Developing and implementing ideas together also help each one to feel invested in the process and emboldened by its success. There’s a mindset shift from a more passive standpoint of “how do I do it” to a more inspired and active one of “I will get it done.” This process of empowering our self-belief, self-reliance and self-fulfillment are at the core of unleashing the potential of ALL.

Of course, with so many chapters, some baseline policies and systems do exist in terms of our communications to stay aligned. These are also shared in the Code.

Ultimately, whatever we value will become our ‘values.’ Today, ALL and all that it embodies has become a model of how women and people can drive a mass movement through trust, helpfulness, exchange, encouragement, and inspiration.

In this evolution and thought process, I was guided very much by my partner as also his good friend and a renowned strategist teaching at Tuck-Dartmouth. We discussed many examples, from the Tea Party to Gandhi’s movement, and that greatly helped me develop the guiding principles or code of conduct as well as institute the structural mechanism of making the membership by reference and invitation.

Our Code of Conduct has helped us grow organically with an aliveness of our vision and spirit across our membership base.

DNO: How are you able to offer free membership to ALL?

DHA: ALL Ladies League (ALL) was set up as a public charitable trust and the family foundation decided to support it fully as their contribution to society.

The Central Secretariat that my office supports lends full and free administrative support for all chapters in terms of starting-up kits and collateral, designing for posters and invites, as well as social media publicity and promotion. We want every woman to know and feel that she has full administrative support and her focus should simply be to grow and galvanize local networks and sisterhood, grow herself personally and professionally and be able to dream and do. We also support and coordinate the WEF conferences. We also work with multiple stakeholders in the corporate, government, universities and other sectors to advance women empowerment.

DNO: What prompted you to develop the WEF structure? How long did it take to develop the first WEF conference?

DHA: With so many women connected in different parts of the world, there came a time when everyone wanted to meet the others. Since these were diverse groups from different countries and culture, we had to find a common ground to bring them together. And that was – a shared aspiration to advance economically and grow our voice, wealth, influence and leadership.

So, the structure had to respond to our diverse membership base, the wide variety of fields sectors in which the women were working; the soulful spirit and seamless approach of ALL; and invitees and attendees who understood that this platform was much more than the usual business conference. We don’t pay speakers or participants for any fee or costs, as we were an NGO ourselves and don’t charge any membership fee in addition to supporting as we do. So, we needed spirited women who would understand and appreciate the importance and need of coming together thus for our individual growth, collective empowerment and making a difference. And it was just amazing to us how MANY responded to that call with love, enthusiasm and goodness.

So, the Women Economic Forum has elements that bring out the best in each and ALL. In the annual event, there are 500+ sessions across 50+ sectors, where you can learn from industry experts, have peer sharing, speak about your work, find mentors and mentees, connect with collaborators and investors, and overall find fabulous women from all over the world. It is both humbling and energising. It’s like a university for women for the six days (or two days in case of the regional events). It’s also like a carnival as there’s this spirit of freedom, celebration, sisterhood, beauty and bliss. The awards at WEF are there make the invisible efforts and achievements of women more visible so that we all have more role models in every walk of life.

At the WEF conferences, you can learn about the recent trends, update your skills, meet achievers from all backgrounds and continents, open your mind, expand your vision, and foster friendships and lasting bonds with other women so that we can help each other in our businesses and collaborate on ventures and initiatives.

So, if ALL is the Soul; WEF is the blood.

At our Women Economic Forum events we have a large number of sessions so that each member and participant gets a chance to not just be a delegate but get to speak and express and share their stories, their experiences and their challenges and their successes. They call it these days tapping into the “human library.”

The format is interactive and lot of time is dedicated to Q and A in each of the parallel sessions. WEF is a platform for peer learning and mentoring, and so people will also share in authentic spirit personal stories and experiences on a range of subjects including the very personal ones. For us, there is no dichotomous between work-life or personal-professional. They are in a continuum and one affects the other.

The goal is empowering women in every way by creating an enabling and celebratory space of learning and networking to expand our business opportunities and increase our global influence. 30% of our speakers and 10% of our delegates are men as well.

WEF is a platform where every individual is given equal opportunity to express and share their thoughts and ideas, where none are denounced or treated less than equal and where the environment is one of positive encouragement and upliftment in an all binding spirit of sisterhood. It’s a celebratory space; enabling women to be more of who they are and not confine themselves to customary notions of how to be. We’ve found this energy to be most liberating for the men too who form a part of our forums, as we work with All. Also, the vibe is one of warmth and of being in a safe space where women also feel nurtured, honored and valued. Plus, the networking is massive with both women and men in business and enterprise in various walks of life. Women have told us that they have made connections for a lifetime!

DNO: You have so many projects going on around the world! How many staff people help you keep all this happening? How will you manage 22 events in 2018?

DHA: There’s a central secretariat in Delhi as headquarters. We have a staff of 80 full time plus we draw on the support of our universities wherever required.

In fact, for the annual event in India, it takes us a whole year to organize. So, we are already working on the next year’s annual edition. In addition to the regional events of course. Plus there are ALL chapters that are supported and initiatives shared. We also keep developing new chapters and circles as there are so many women we still need to connect to!

For international regional WEF events, we do have collaborators and local partners for the venue and logistics. However, all coordination and organization is done from the central secretariat.

We manage it ALL with the credo – the More we do, the More we can!

DNO: What kind of computer platform do you use, and how do you keep track of 70,000 members worldwide?

DHA: We use the Joomla platform and we have a full IT team supporting our website. There’s constant development taking place to keep it dynamic and interactive enabling outreach and connections.

DNO: How did you secure BioAyurveda as a sponsor? Do you have other sponsors?

DHA: It’s a venture we have started in health and wellness. It embodies the ultimate Shakti Bandhan for me – one we have with Mother Nature.

Bio-Ayurveda is a family company so they support. In future, as we grow, we hope we will get other corporates to support.

DNO: Please describe your typical day, and how much time do you spend on ALL and WEF?

DHA: I start early. It gives you a reflective personal space, helps you organize and manage your time. Also with your being on your toes early, you can create momentum for your team for the rest of the day.

In my various roles as Chancellor of three universities, along with ALL and WEF, BioAyurveda, some other investments, the one thing common and central is to engage and energize people and teams all the time. So, time management and team engagement are at the core of whatever you do.

So, the first half of the day, if I’m not travelling, is at the office. I try and keep meetings for the second half or evenings. I dedicate some time for reading, mostly news or research. I’m also often on skype calls or zoom meetings with connections worldwide. I have at least one meal with family.

Of course, I do need to travel a lot as well within India and abroad. I carry my work like emails along with me. These days with technology, you can be in many places at once.

DNO: Is there something you wished for ALL and WEF that you have not yet been able to accomplish? What is your biggest dream for ALL and WEF for the future?

DHA: The dream was and is that the presence, positivity, sisterhood and the enabling ecosystem should be so available to ALL women that no woman anywhere in the world should ever feel alone. Like Rumi says, “Come, from wherever you are, whatever you are.” We want it to be a sacred space of acceptance, seamlessness, wellness and empowerment for ALL women.

At the very core, we wish to change the proverbial adage that “women are women’s worst enemies” to an inspired experience of “women are women’s best friends.” We have faith that our daughters can grow up seeing and believing that. Feeling that safe and inspired space of sisterhood around us is vital to our pushing through the other ceilings, blocks and boundaries we face.

Already, the pursuit of our goals and the manner of our outreach has resulted in a spirit expansion for each of us – both outwards and inwards. The dream now is equally about making every woman feel like a true Queen of the inner empire – where faith in oneself reigns supreme. Where every woman can unapologetically be herself and bring forth her uniqueness, voice and purpose.

As we grow at ALL, we simply wish to stay true to our process of reaching out and reaching within, with soulfulness, acceptance, care, humanity, listening and service. Dedicated to this path and vision, we would want our vision of Oneness and ethos of ALLness to grow much larger to touch and uplift every aspect of our lives – social, civic, cultural, spiritual, economic and political.